Improvement in safety-guards for locks



UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

ORLANDO LUND, OF NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

IMPROVEMENT IN4 SAFETY-GUARDS FOB. LOCKS- .Spicication forming partofLctters Patent No. 44,008, dated August 30, 1864.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, ORLANDO LUND, a residentof Nashua, in the county ot' Hillsborough and State of New Hampshire,have invented an Improved Door-Key Safety-Guard; and I do hereby declarethe same to be fully described in the following speciiication, andrepresented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l denotes afront elevation of the said safety-guard as applied to the escutcheonplate of a lock, and in position to not only cover the key-hole of suchplate, but to lock the key, so as to prevent it from being turned eitherfrom the inside or outside of the door. Fig. 2 denotes a front elevationof the safetyguard as depressed, so as to uncover the keyhole. Fig. 3 isa vertical section of the escutcheon-plate and safety-guard.

My invention may be said to be an improvement on the safety-guard (ordevice for preventing a door-key from being turned) as represented inthe patent numbered 37,665, granted to Anios Vestcott, on thc 10th dayof February of the year A. D. 1863. The safety-guard of the saidWestcott has a bolting recess auxiliary to the key-hole or passage madethrough such guard, and in order to lock the key or prevent it frombeing turned the guard has to be moved downward, so as to bring the saidbolting-recess astraddle of the key. This construction and operation ofthe safety-guard leaves the key-hole open, so as to enable a person tointroduce through it a hooked wire for the purpose of seizing on theknob of the guard and prying up the guard so as to unlock the key andenable the latter to be revolved by nippers. With my improvement thekey-hole is entirely closed when the key is locked by the guard, and Ihave no locking-recess separate from the keyhole of the guard, as I soconstruct the guard and apply it to the escutcheon-plate or door as tolock the key by means ofthe bit-passa ge of the key-hole ofthesafety-guard.

In the drawings, A denotes the safetyguard, while B is theescutcheon-platc.

The escutcheon-plate is also exhibited in front view in Fig. 4,'whileFig. 5 is a front view of the safety-guard. Fig. 6 is a side view, andFig. 7 an edge view, of the key,

these latter figures being made to represent the form of the part s ofthe key, which operates with the bit-recess ot' the safety-guard.

The key where it is to operate with the guard is notched on its oppositesides, and so that the bases of the two notches shall be straight andparallel and at a distance apart equal to the width of the bit recess orpassage r of the key-hole ofthe guard.

My improved safety-guard is made with a key-hole, (l, exactly like thekey-hole D of its escutcheon-plate, and without any such recess as isshown in Fig. S as leading upward and out of the key-hole C of thesafety-guard of the said Westcott. Furthermore, my improved safety-guardA is constructed with two slots, b c, for receiving the screws d c, bywhich it is held to the escutcheon-plate, the said screws being screwedinto the said plate. The lower one ofthe screws projects beyond thefront face of the guard, andcarries between its head and the guard ahelical spring, f, and a washer, g, the same being arranged on the screwas shown in the drawings. There is also to the guard A a knob, h, whoseshank projects through the plate and beyond its rear surface, so as toform a stud, t, to catch into either of two holes7 t' lc, made in theescutch-v con-plate,l they being arranged so as to hold the guard ineither of its extreme positions.

By taking hold of and pulling on the knob h, the guard may be moved soas to draw the stud tout of the hole i or k in which it may be, afterwhich, and while the stud is so out of the hole, the guard may be slidlongitudinally by pressure properly exerted on the knob.

The slots and conining-screws of the guard are so arranged with respectto its key-hole (in manner as shown in Figs. 1 and 2) that when theguard islelevated to its highest position-that is, as is shown in Fig.l--the bit passage or recess r ofthe key-hole will be astraddle of thepart s of the key, and will so lock the key that it cannot be turned, itbeing understood that under such circumstances the bolt of the lock haspreviously been sent forward or locked by the key. The key-hole of theescutcheon-plate will then be covered or closed by the key and thesafety-guard.

When the guard is down, er in the position shown in Fig. 2, not onlywill the key-hole of the escutcheon-plate be uncovered so as to enablethe key to be withdrawn from the lock, but the key maybe freelyrevolved, so as to throw back the bolt of the lock. When the key-hole ofthe escutcheon plate is so covered by the. guard, no tool or wire forthe purpose ot' depressing the guard can be introduced from the outsideofthe door through the keyhole of the eseuteheon-plate, and besides thesaid key-hole will be so closed as to prevent a person from peepingthrough it.

I do not claim constructing the safetyguard with a key-locking recess ornotch separate from and leading out ofthe key-hole' of such guard, andforlockin g the key when the guard i is so depressed us to bring the keyinto such recess.

My improved construction and application of the sai'etyguard, whereby itby being raised upward is not only caused to lock the key by the actionof the part s thereof, and the bitpassage ofthe key-hole of thesaid'gu'ard, but to close the key-hole of the lock or theescutcheon-plate thereof, all substantially as specified.

ORLANDO LUND. Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, F. l). HALE, Jr.

